Most of us are very interested in how to get a job, but since that doesn’t always work in a tough job market, it might be helpful to take a look at the situation from the back side. As in how not to get a job. Sometimes the best way to get a job is to identify the factors that are hurting your effort, and then do your best to reverse the situation.

What are some of the ways that you can sabotage your efforts get a job?

Not Customizing Your Resume And Cover Letter To Match The Job

It can be tedious, but it’s extremely important that both your resume and your cover letter match the position you are applying for. In every job posting, there are certain specific skills, credentials and experience requirements that are critical to the job. If your resume and cover letter don’t address those requirements, your application will be passed over.

An application that does not fit the job description is worse than sending no application at all. It’s not just that you will not get the position, but that you will have taken yourself out of the running for a position that you may in fact have been qualified for had you done a better job of matching your qualification with the required skills.

Carefully study any job ads or postings, and do your best to identify the most important qualifications the employer is looking for. Then do your best to match your resume and cover letter to those qualifications. If you have the qualifications, the job may be a good fit and you could very well be a candidate in contention. If you don’t have the qualifications required, it’s probably best that you don’t even apply.

Applying For Jobs You Aren’t Qualified For

Which brings us into another dilemma for job applicants. There sometimes the thought that you can use the “shotgun approach” to applying for jobs. You might think that if you apply for a thousand jobs that surely someone will hire you. Unfortunately, the qualifications required for most jobs today are so specific that a mass application effort will probably be a massive waste time.

If you’re not qualified for a job, there’s no point even applying for it. In more robust job markets, employers will often hire someone who is at least partially qualified. But in the market we’re in today, there’s no shortage of skilled employee prospects, and you’ll have virtually zero chance of landing a job you are not qualified for.

Save your time and energy for more productive activities.

Sloppy Resumes, Cover Letters And Job Applications

There is sometimes a tendency to believe that resumes, cover letters and job applications are little more than a formality. But that’s only true if you have a strong reference from an influential person within the company. In virtually all other situations, your candidacy for any job will rest entirely upon the information that you present.

Your resume, cover letter and job application should not only be complete, but they should also be as neat as possible. They’re hiring a whole person, not a collection of skills and qualifications. They want to know that you are organized and that you can communicate intelligently. Your application documents will either confirm or deny that.

Be very careful in preparing your resume and cover letter, and make sure that you have a knowledgeable third-party review it for you. No matter how may times you review it yourself, you could still have glaring mistakes that someone else will pick up.

For job applications (especially on site), it may help to have a detailed list of information that includes your education, employment history, references and specific skills. Take this information from your list and transfer it to the job application. Never rely on your own memory.

Weak Interviewing Skills

Many job applicants have very strong resumes and convincing cover letters, but they fall short during the interview process. Often this is not because of a lack of credentials and qualifications, but because of poor interview skills.

You should be fully prepared to provide intelligent answers to questions that you would reasonably expect to face at a job interview. In addition, it’s important that you have a list of relevant questions that will further demonstrate your understanding of the job and your ability to get the job done.

Resumes and cover letters are written lists of your abilities. Interview skills are way of demonstrating those abilities. Invest some time in improving your interview skills with a strong emphasis on being able explain why you are the right person for the job.

Looking For The Perfect Job

People who are looking for the perfect spouse often end up…single. People who look for the perfect job often end up…stuck in a crappy job or unemployed!

Don’t let that be you.

There are no perfect jobs out there, but you can waste an awful lot of time looking for one. In the process you may turn down a number of perfectly good jobs. A less than perfect job may not be exactly what you are looking for, but it could be the very steppingstone to the perfect job that comes later.

You should hope that the next employer you work for doesn’t have perfectionist tendencies. At the same time, you need to keep your own tendencies toward perfection in check. Unless you have the perfect job right now, finding one that is can be an endless search. And if you do have the perfect job already…just stay where you are.